Pull clean transcripts, search videos and channels, and track new uploads — without scraping, proxies, or breakage. Simple credits, no rate-limit roulette.
Seven focused endpoints. Predictable credit pricing. Responses shaped for LLM consumption.
Fetch the full transcript of any public video as clean JSON or plain text, with or without timestamps.
GET /v1/youtube/transcript?video_url=https://youtu.be/dQw4...
Authorization: Bearer tl_live_xxx{
"video_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ",
"language": "en",
"transcript": [
{ "text": "Welcome back to the channel...", "start": 0.0, "duration": 3.2 }
]
}Query YouTube for videos, channels, or playlists and get structured results with continuation-token pagination.
Scope your search to a single channel — by handle, ID, or URL — to find exactly the videos you need.
GET /v1/youtube/channel/search?channel=@fireship&q=rust{
"results": [
{ "video_id": "5C_HPTJg5ek", "title": "Rust in 100 Seconds" }
],
"continuation": "EpcDEg1..."
}List every upload on a channel, newest first, with full metadata — ideal for building channel-wide indexes.
GET /v1/youtube/channel/videos?channel=@veritasium{
"videos": [ /* 30 per page */ ],
"continuation": "4qmFsgKF..."
}Poll a channel's latest uploads at no credit cost — the cheapest way to trigger downstream workflows.
GET /v1/youtube/channel/latest?channel=@mkbhd{
"latest": [
{ "video_id": "aX3jf9Qw1kE", "published": "2 hours ago" }
]
}Expand any playlist into its full video list — courses, series, and curated collections become ingestible datasets.
GET /v1/youtube/playlist/videos?playlist=PLBmc...{
"playlist_id": "PLBmc...",
"videos": [ /* ordered entries */ ],
"continuation": null
}Use plain REST, connect an MCP server to your AI client, or let an agent skill set everything up for you.
A single base URL and Bearer-token auth. Works from any language or runtime in under a minute.
curl "https://api.transcribelayer.com/v1/youtube/transcript?video_url=..." \
-H "Authorization: Bearer tl_live_xxx"Give Claude, ChatGPT, or any MCP client direct access to every endpoint as native tools.
claude mcp add transcribelayer \
-e ABT_API_KEY=tl_live_xxx \
-- npx @transcribelayer/mcpOne command installs a skill that teaches your coding agent when and how to call the API.
npx skills add transcribelayer/agent-skillNo tiers to decode — every subscription includes all endpoints. Pay only for the credits you use.
Drag to your expected volume — most requests cost 1 credit.
Need more than 1M credits/month or custom terms? Talk to us about a custom plan →